Kung Fu Castles

Today we went to a Castle, and walking through the halls I felt very Kung Fu-ish for some reason. In that I wanted to do Kung Fu in a smaller space.

Now some people would then say, "Oh then you should do Win Chun." Well what I end up doing is my own Kung Fu but just focus on the shorter techniques and shortening the longer ones. It got me thinking about how important it is to adapt to your surroundings. So you should never be saying that you don't have enough space or an improper practice space. Of course if I had money... I would probably build myself a freaking Castle like this Mercer guy did (more to come on that later) or maybe a large Condo or something that makes money... but since I do not have that sort of money... what's wrong with my house and the sidewalk?
 I mean the park is actually the best. But I feel like the reason those shorter styles developed was to adapt to the environment. I mean there is a sword style that is meant to be practiced under a table.

Maybe I should start working on these fun aspects of the Martial Arts with adults and not just Noah. It's just that they can't be performed, or don't look good when performed. But who cares?

Practical Reasons Naked Kung Fu

I've heard of people doing Naked Yoga. I actually often do Kung Fu without clothes on for several reasons... and they are going to seem really bizarre but they actually make sense.

The first reason is actually to dry off after a shower, especially if it is cold and there is nobody to hand you a towel.. or not quickly enough.

There is actually a white crane technique that my Sifu had encouraged us to try after a shower, to, like a crane (though more likely you've seen a dog do this) try to shake dry. That power of shaking dry and be used to produce power to strike or to create space when  some one is trying to grab you. Again, it also warms you up, sort of like over exaggerated shivering on purpose.

The Fukienese White Crane does this a lot. I enjoyed doing these shorter technques in the bathroom because I knew that pows and cups might mean I would hit the wall or pump into something.

Another reason to practice naked is a form of laziness. If you get clothing all sweaty, then you will have to wash that clothing. If you just get all sweaty and then towel off then you save resources washing clothes.

I know these are not the answers one expected with this title... but that is the point.

This second reason is not usually an issue.. but since we are traveling, I sport of had a limited supply of clothing and ended up doing some basics in front of the mirror naked.

But part of it was to observe my body. I had felt like I was getting heavier and weighed myself. I am about 185, which according to doctors would be overweight. 175 was my high school weight. Most doctors would say i could go down to 165 or even 160 for my height.

I did notice some chunk so I wanted to see what I looked like doing basics.


When doing basics, you don't exactly suck your stomach in the way people trying to look thinner do. But you do flex and the visual look is similar.

Anyway I used to prefer teaching people with their shirt tucked in because there is aspects of the posture and alignment that is difficult to see.

Practicing naked I noticed details in positioning of my thighs and calves that I wouldn't have looked at before. Even though i don't practice Kung Fu that much I would still say you can definitely tell by the proportions of my body that it does Kung Fu and that it has adapted to do Kung Fu. I certainly don't look like a long distance runner or a swimmer.

I was just surprised because I had noticed that my stance seemed weaker recently or needed work (in fact I wrote about this) But looking in the mirror I'm just saying that despite being lax... it is still obvious that my body has done Kung Fu seriously for over a decade. Over two decades if you count my childhood playtime training.

I thought of the Romans and the Greeks doing sports naked. It's not really a Han tradition at all. But it would be interesting to take that approach to Kung Fu as well.

Noah Kung Fu King

Noah was walking down the streets of Brooklyn today in his little red Chinese Jacket that Grace bought him. He (or rather I) had forgotten to pack his jacket. Luckily unpacking I found a fall jacket tucked away in the car and as it turns out it is only 50 degrees. But for his moment strutting down the street like a combination of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, and Stephen Chow in... any movie where he wears a super Chinese Jacket unbuttoned Sik Sun (King of Chef's.. er eating?)  eating a lollipop in red and gold silk, it was worth it.

We got some video of us eating Yunnan noodles and we just got siu lap. Brooklyn's Chinatown is so full of energy and is less judgmental than Manhattan. My Jeans and a hoodie were not as out of place as I usually seem to be in New York. The outdoor markets seemed more fresh, more inviting.

I got Noah to do the next Sup Ji move for the 100 day Kung Fu Challange, right there on the street. That got some smiles.  BTW the streets are a lot wider so it doesn't feel like you are going to lose your children.

It was a lot of fun! Videos to come.

The Contract

A lot of brothers fight. It's natural I hear. I wouldn't know because I am an only child. But Noah and Jonah have an added aspect to their relationship which perhaps presents a conflict of interest. You see, Jonah is actually Noah's lawyer. What I mean by this is Noah cannot defend himself with words at all. But when Jonah is asked to defend him... for say stealing candy and eating it, he will ask questions like, "Well did you see him eat the candy actually?" And often will negotiate a lighter sentence for Noah.

But what if Noah's crime is against Jonah?

Noah hit Jonah and for punishment Mommy had wanted Noah to write out what he did. But he just wouldn't do it. So Jonah wrote up a contract for Noah.

It read something like, "I will not hit Dai Dai. I will stop hitting Dai Dai. If I don't stop hitting dai dai I will not get any test. And I will stop being angry." Their followed several marking that looked like "g"s but apparently were actually "o"s and were there simply to demonstrate to Noah how to write an "o" properly.

Then there was a line where Noah had to sign his name... which he did trusting fully in Jonah's ethics.

I'm just saying brothers fight and that is normal. But I think this is not, and also extremely hilarious, which is why I feel compelled to write it down before I forget.

Kung Fu 100 day Magis Challenge

The above Video is day 3 but I will put day one and day two below  as well.

I am drawing from the 100 day transformation...which would be more about a work out.. a serious one at that. Following along with these videos is not that much of a work out. I suppose Day Three is the closest thing to what a physical transformation would be like. You do those basics, 100 each, for 100 days, so 800 basics (because you have to do the walking) and at the end you should have a sufficient base to start doing Kung Fu. But Day 4 is actually going to be new techniques. So this 100 days is more mental At the end you will have learned all the techniques of a form and possibly be able to do that form. I also show who each small section of the form can be used like a basic training technique or a style of fighting on it's own. It would be fun to know if anyone actually manages to learn the form from this video. And perhaps to see them perform these exercises as well. I guess you can tag a friend that always wanted to learn Kung Fu but never had the time or something and then show yourself doing the exercises and if you can, at the end, do the whole form.  Most people tell me it's basically impossible to learn Kung Fu this way. But I think learning basic moves a piece at a time, shouldn't be to hard.  

On Wushu Dance

Well I am learning this form online  to teach to little kids.

At first I actually injured my arm because I tried to put power into the moves.


Here is my anti-Wushu rant. But also a traditional form which I adapted to be used in a similar way. ie. The kids can follow along and not move their feet. I guess this would be useful for adults too who like doing a bunch of techniques but don't have the space. I actually started practicing like this when I broke my foot. I still want to practice techniques from the forms but I wasn't really mobile. I could walk but  not much. But back then I wasn't doing it for performance so I freestyled it. I remember doing Luk Lik stuff an developing new ways to do them. My Sifu commented that I had broken through my understanding of the Tiger Crane double set. In our style the Tiger and the Crane become one animal. And there is another hidden animal in there as well. You won't see that break through in the video below. This is a rant that is defending why I teach children the way I do... but writing about it just reminded me.

The point is, that breakthrough in understanding partially came about due to breaking my foot. My arm is slightly injured now... but as you can see I can still do regular Kung Fu in this video no problem. I realized if I don't use any power at all.. like Linghu Chung, and forget all my Kung Fu and just put the random techniques forced upon me in the video by putting my hands down first and treating them as what they are, separated random techniques, and using the duqu gau geem technique of Fong ching Yerng, a la "Proud Smiling Wanderer" (Siu ngo Gong Wu) then I can memorize this form and just do it. 

Violin Lessons

Part of this video really shows the problem of the traffic around Forrest Hills T station. I had to turn off the camera to cross because it was so dangerous. But yeah, if there is something that politicians should really be pushing to fix with all their efforts, it should be this. Grace actually Tweeterd to Matt O'Malley about it and some aide ended up telling her to call the construction company.

You know what? that's actually the job of the politicians, to put pressure to make their district better. Not going around ribbon cutting or putting up cigarette butt dispensers in JP, where frankly I haven't noticed the cigarette butts to be much of a problem. 

I am going to start documenting what I can of my children's life more. Mostly because I actually find a lot of what they do entertaining. More so than when they do Kung Fu. The stuff that they do that normally would be edited out is actually the stuff that is funniest. Come to think of it. Today they were late for school. But getting the whole process down of why they were late is pretty funny. I mean I have the Go Pro. Why not use it?

Also, this other stuff that is relevant to the community comes up. Like traffic problems... and also, where you can go to get violin lessons. Her web site is here. 

Here is Noah's part of the lesson.